Business Advice: Free Can Really Pay

Have you ever seen this graveyard-like image? It's a symbol of once-hoped for dreams, now finished. This is the remains of an idea that didn't quite make it into the real world and now this is all that is left to prove it ever existed.

Don't let this happen to you - and if it already has - get some counseling. Ok I didn't mean that. But really you don't want this to happen to your idea. Keep your drive up. Let's start a supply of ideas that can keep you adapting, keep you moving forward, closer and closer to seeing your idea through to the end.

This 1 idea can pay as much as $70,000......per month - if you can execute it.
[Story Continues...]

This idea isn't brand new - but it tends to get forgotten online because of all the negative publicity this word gets: FREE. Do you know that if yahoo detects the word "free" in an email they will bleep the word like any other obnoxious 4-letter word or they will just toss the entire email into the spam box. It has a really bad reputation which causes most businesses to overlook its potential value.

This story comes from Detroit, Michigan where a playful, energetic knowledgeable marketer takes the form of a 17-year-old girl. On Myspace.com she noticed that the backgrounds were all the same - boring. None of them suited her style. So what did she do when she had an idea for something that she wanted which wasn't currently being offered? She did it herself. But she didn't just make the background templates FOR herself...she made them for EVERYONE. And she continually added to her creations - one interesting background after another and another. Can you guess how much she charged for her work?

Nothing.

The site exploded and soon it resulted in a phone call from the head of a marketing company.

"Would you like to display ads from our client advertisers?", he asked.
"No," she replied, "Wait....I mean yes!"

And the rest is....$70,000 per month in ad revenues, a multi-million-dollar company where she suddenly finds herself at the helm, making her one of the youngest self-made millionaires in the world.

Not too shabby when everyone seems to be crying about the state of the economy. You're not still reading and believing the newspapers, are you?

Lesson? Well this isn't class but I would say, don't forget the value of giving something away for nothing - because in reality just like you can't get something for nothing...you really can't give something for nothing. There might even be a little physics in there:

Perhaps Newton's 3rd Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

As you see from the story published at FastCompany.com, the money literally came to her. Her site by the way is called Whateverlife.com. It can be pretty beneficial to be young. You don't read the newspapers and watch all the pessimistic news and get your head filled with doubts. You just have an idea and play with it - and things happen.

I guess there are lots of lessons we can pull from this story. Use them.

Suggested Reading:
Donald Trump: See Success When others Don't.
Keys to Success Online, Part 1